Monster is the story of Tenma, a young Japanese neurosurgeon who saves the life of Johan, a 12-year-old sociopath. Tenma chases Johan across Europe, trying to contain the evil he has unleashed. Monster is a brilliantly tense psychological horror story that is a perfect choice for an HBO miniseries. Del Toro was previously shopping the project as a movie, but Monster proved to be too meaty, and too long, to fit that format. An HBO series would give it the space to breathe and really explore the depths of Monster‘s intricately-realized horror. This also marks the closest a network as influential as HBO has come to adapting an anime or manga into live-action drama. Monster may be the perfect property to build that bridge, and we’ll be watching it with interest.